Surprise: A military project ahead of schedule, under budget

Delays and overspending on military projects are legendary. Four years after he warned that cost overruns on big-ticket Pentagon projects have left the military facing a budgetary “train wreck,” Arizona’s Republican Sen. John McCain earlier this month blasted military leaders for a $2 billion cost overrun on the carrier Gerald R. Ford and the troubled history of the F-35, a next-generation fighter jet that’s taking longer to build, at higher cost, than originally anticipated.

That’s why it was particularly gratifying to learn that the new Navy hospital at Camp Pendleton has been completed six months ahead of schedule and more than $100 million under the original budget of $570 million. The 500,000-square-foot hospital is the Navy’s largest construction project under the economic stimulus program enacted in 2009 during the recession. It’s scheduled to open in mid-December, with a ribbon-cutting on Jan. 31, instead of June 2014. The hospital will serve around 70,000 active-duty and veteran members of the military and their families on a 70-acre site near the south entrance to the base.

Kudos to both the Navy and builders Clark Construction Group and McCarthy Building Cos. Inc. for looking out for the taxpayers — which, sadly, appears to be a rarity in government circles.